Emanuel, Preckwinkle make rare dual endorsement

Both back newcomer, not disgraced former alderman, for County Board commissioner

February 17, 2014|By Hal Dardick, Tribune reporter

Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle are expected on Tuesday to endorse Blake Sercye, a little-known 27-year-old attorney running for a 1st District County Board seat. (Nancy Stone, Chicago Tribune)

Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle are expected to weigh in Tuesday on a West Side Democratic primary contest for county commissioner, backing a young first-time candidate in a crowded field that includes a former alderman who did time for political corruption.

The rare public show of support in a down-ballot contest from two of the city's heaviest hitters is a good get for Blake Sercye, a little-known 27-year-old attorney with a prominent Chicago law firm.

Then again, the March 18 contest for the 1st District County Board seat is a far-from-ordinary campaign. Among the five Democrats running is ex-Ald. Isaac "Ike" Carothers, who got out of federal prison two years ago following a conviction for bribery and tax fraud but still is considered a political force in the 29th Ward.

For Emanuel and Preckwinkle, the endorsement of Sercye is a way to try to head off another round of only-in-Chicago stories spotlighting the city's historical political corruption that would follow a successful Carothers comeback. State law bars Carothers from trying to return to the Chicago City Council, but he's free to run for County Board.

The district, now represented by retiring Commissioner Earlean Collins, includes parts of the Far West Side and a swath of the western suburbs including Oak Park and much of Maywood. Also running are attorney Richard Boykin, a former chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Danny Davis; Ronald Lawless, who owns an insurance and financial consulting firm and has made previous unsuccessful bids for public office; and Brenda Smith, a West Side activist.

Sercye might be a first-time candidate, but he's no stranger to Democratic politics. While a student at Fenwick High School in Oak Park, he met then-Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn, a Fenwick alum. Sercye then scored a summer internship in Quinn's office.

In 2010 he was a field coordinator for Quinn's campaign for governor. He was political director for Emanuel's mayoral campaign in 2011, the same year Sercye got his law degree from the University of Chicago.

Political ties to Preckwinkle are less obvious, but she has made it clear she's not backing Carothers, a former City Council colleague with whom she did not see eye to eye. Other Democrats aren't keen on Boykin, who backed Republican U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk.

Sercye said he and his brother were raised by a single mother in Austin, so he understands the district. He said he's interested in the issues of reducing the Cook County Jail population, expanding health care access and getting more vacant property back into productive use for affordable housing and business development.

The election, he said, provides an opportunity to "get a progressive leader from the West Side."

"We're at a point right now where we have an opportunity to bring in new, smart leadership that has an understanding of the district — smart, ethical, transparent, everything that the voters deserve," Sercye said. "It's about seizing that moment, when we know that the alternative we have will bring that in doubt."

Although it's his first time on the ballot, in 2010 Sercye threw his hat in the ring to be appointed to replace former state Rep. Deborah Graham after then-Mayor Richard M. Daley appointed her to replace Carothers on the City Council.

While Sercye will be able to tout support from Emanuel and Preckwinkle, Carothers has his own backing, including from 37th Ward Ald. Emma Mitts, a former protege.

"I think he has done his time and it's up to the voters to decide whether to give him a second chance," Mitts told the Tribune last fall.